Maria Ney

Ney was born in Kiel in northern Germany in 1890. Her father was a physician.{{Cite web|last=Berlinische Monatsschrift|date=1999|title=Lexikon Berliner Biographien (N)|url=https://berlingeschichte.de/bms/bmstxt99/9904lexa.htm|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Berlin Geschichte|page=95|language=de|issn=0944-5560}} She first studied singing at the Kiel Conservatory.

In 1933, she was reported to live in Zurich.{{Cite journal|date=June 20, 1933|title=Foreign Film News: Who's Who of Nazi Exiles |journal=Variety|volume=111|issue=2|pages=19}} She returned to Nazi Germany by 1936, when she was in a film.{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum.|title=Der neue Schiffsjunge|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-neue-schiffsjunge_ccfb30a116954605baffe56e31e5538f|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal}}

She is buried in the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf in Berlin.

In 1923, Ney made her debut at the Café Gößenwahn on Kürfurstendamm in Berlin. By the late 1920s, Ney was performing regularly in the "Cabaret of Comics" ({{Interlanguage link|Kabarett der Komiker|lt=Kabarett der Komiker|de|Kabarett der Komiker}}), the longest-running German-language cabaret.{{Cite journal|last=Lareau|first=Alan|date=September 1, 2011|title=Kabarett der Komiker: Berlin 1924–1950 by Klaus Volker (2010)|url=http://mon.uwpress.org/cgi/doi/10.1353/mon.2011.0087|journal=Monatshefte|language=en|volume=103|issue=3|pages=469–471|doi=10.1353/mon.2011.0087|s2cid=219197984 |issn=0026-9271|access-date=May 16, 2021|via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription}}{{Citation|last1=Thumser|first1=Regina|date=December 31, 2003|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110964103-017|work=USA|pages=375–415|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-096410-3|access-date=May 16, 2021|last2=Klösch|first2=Christian|title=Exil-Kabarett in New York |doi=10.1515/9783110964103-017 |url-access=subscription}} She was famous enough to receive reviews in the American magazine Variety and was one of the most famous German women singers in the 1920s and 1930s.{{Cite journal|date=August 27, 1930|title=Legitimate: Out-of-Town Reviews – Cabaret of Comics |journal=Variety|volume=100|issue=7|pages=70}}{{Cite journal|last=Ganeva|first=Mila|date=March 7, 2019|title=Diseusen in der Weimarer Republik: Imagekonstruktionen im Kabarett am Beispiel von Margo Lion und Blandine Ebinger|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghz011|journal=German History|volume=37|issue=2|pages=253–255|doi=10.1093/gerhis/ghz011|issn=0266-3554|url-access=subscription}}

She often performed in a sailor suit, perhaps emphasizing her nautical background from the port town of Kiel, and played the accordion. In the 1920s "A Sailor in Marseille" at the Cabaret of Comics, Ney performed with ten backup accordionists. Her performance "Give It" (Gib ihn) with Heinrich Giesen included a scene in a gondola rowed by two masked characters who seem to be in blackface.{{Cite web|date=1923|title=Kabarett der Komiker: "Gib ihm"; Gondel mit Maria Ney und Heinrich Giesen / Bild 1|url=https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/bild_zoom/plink_screen.php?bestand=60582&id=2802142&gewaehlteSeite=05_0000738227_0001_5-738227-1.png|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg|language=de}}

Ney served as the master of ceremonies in several short sound films that consisted of several different acts or scenes. Terra-Melophon Magazine, No. 1 (1930), which was called a "magazine film," included the reading aloud of passages from a novel, an explanation of how a telephone call between Berlin and New York worked, a demonstration of how to make a martini, and a series of exercises led by a famous physical educator.{{Cite web|title=Terra-Melophon-Magazin Nr. 1 (Detailansicht Film)|url=https://www.murnau-stiftung.de/movie/16992|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Murnau Stiftung|language=de}}

Cabaret Program No. 6 (1931), Ufa-Cabaret Program (4th Part) (1931), Aafa Potpourri II (1932) consisted of mixtures of different cabaret acts and film studio events.{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Kabarett-Programm Nr. 6|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/kabarett-programm-nr-6_4293b8e4d8de45b9ba91ec038f3dc71f|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal}}{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Aafa-Kunterbunt II|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/aafa-kunterbunt-ii_e1e6f8beb6204d20a2c9f54992755ad0|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal|language=de}} The Ufa-Cabaret was produced for the film company Universum Film AG (Ufa), while the Aafa Potpourri was about Aafa-Film. These films attempted to replicate cabaret performances and atmosphere.{{Cite book|last=Ganeva|first=Mila|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1203133060|title=Rethinking Jewishness in Weimar cinema|date=2021|publisher=Berghahn Books|others=Barbara Hales, Valerie Weinstein|isbn=978-1-78920-872-6|location=New York|pages=99|chapter=Chapter 4 – Jewish Comedians beyond Lubitsch: Siegfried Arno in Film and Cabaret|oclc=1203133060}}

During the Third Reich, Ney was in two feature films: The New Cabin Boy (1936), in which she played the accordion, and Shots in Cabin 7 (1937–38). Shots in Cabin 7 was a mystery film set on board a cruise ship traveling from Cape Town to Amsterdam, in which a pair of detectives uncover a diamond smuggling ring.{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Schüsse in Kabine 7|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/schuesse-in-kabine-7_62f0120874e84773978a19aae356472d|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal}} Ney portrayed the wife of one of the detectives, who was played by Aribert Grimmer.{{Cite web|title=Schüsse in Kabine 7: Full Cast & Crew|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131580/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|website=Internet Movie Database}}

Starting in 1948, Ney presented "Coffee Table" and other light programs on Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor (RIAS, Radio in the American Sector), the United States-sponsored radio station in Berlin.

• 1926: Der sprechende Film (The Speaking Film) — as herself; documentary about sound films ("talkies"){{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Der sprechende Film|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-sprechende-film_9afec752e29e474eb5b75dcf6e85f3f3|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal|language=de}}
• 1930: Terra-Melophon-Magazin Nr. 1 (Terra-Melophon Magazine, No. 1) — as master of ceremonies or narrator; directed by Rudolf Biebrach{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Terra-Melophon-Magazin Nr. 1|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/terra-melophon-magazin-nr-1_f827c2dc969047c0a4b0a26ca0ef2aac|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal|language=de}}
• 1931: Ufa-Kabarett-Programm (4. Teil) (Ufa-Cabaret Program [4th Part]) — as master of ceremonies; directed by Kurt Gerron{{Cite web|title=Ufa-Kabarett-Programm (4. Teil) (Detailansicht Film)|url=https://www.murnau-stiftung.de/index.php/movie/17004|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Murnau Stiftung|language=de}}
• 1931: Kabarett-Programm Nr. 6 (Cabaret Program No. 6) — as master of ceremonies; directed by Kurt Gerron{{Cite web|title=Maria Ney|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1775840/|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Internet Movie Database}}
• 1932: Aafa-Kunterbunt II (Aafa Potpourri II) — as master of ceremonies; about Aafa-Film

• 1930: Stürmisch die Nacht (The Stormy Night) — a German and Austrian film about rum-running; directed by Kurt Blachy{{Cite web|last=Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum|title=Stürmisch die Nacht|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/stuermisch-die-nacht_bae080bc0d92480abf160e2a635ad778|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=Film Portal|language=de}}{{Cite journal|date=July 23, 1930|title=Foreign Film News: Germany Showing Own Rum-Runners in Film|journal=Variety|volume=100|issue=2|pages=7}}
• 1936: Der neue Schiffsjunge (The New Cabin Boy) — credited as "with her accordion;" directed by Hans Morschel
• 1937–1938: Schüsse in Kabine 7 (Shots in Cabin 7) — detective's wife; directed by Carl Boese

• 1954: Mit Musik geht alles besser (Everything is Better with Music) — as herself; documentary

• circa 1980, included in Meister des Humors: das ist doch mal was anderes, a historical recording of humorists and cabaret performances{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/916509385|title=Meister des Humors: das ist doch mal was anderes|publisher=EMI-Electrola|year=1980|location=Köln|oclc=916509385 }}

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Category:1890 births

Category:German accordionists

Category:German women accordionists

Category:German actresses

Category:German cabaret performers

Category:Actresses from Kiel

Category:Year of death uncertain